Villanova-Ohio State is a clash between places where basketball matters and where it matters more | Mike Sielski

PITTSBURGH — As half of Butler’s student body stormed the court at Hinkle Fieldhouse one night in January 2017, an eight-point Bulldogs victory over the nation’s top-ranked team igniting the most common celebration in college basketball, Jay Wright crossed midcourt, gripped Chris Holtmann’s hand, and gave him a gesture of genuine grace that Holtmann still treasures.

Hey, Wright told him, I’m really happy for you. Two months later, after Butler had swept through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and landed in the Sweet 16, Wright sent Holtmann a lengthy text message, the bulk of which could be boiled down to something so simple: Congrats. Now, just be Chris. “I just really, really, really like the guy and have tremendous respect for him,” Holtmann said.

It might not sound like much, a quick note or a kind word in a handshake line from the coach of the then-defending national champions. But Holtmann and Wright – and, if he or she is being honest, anyone who closely follows college basketball – would acknowledge a fact of the sport. Such moments mean a little more to a program like Butler, to a program like Villanova, to a program that is the crown jewel of its athletic department and its campus’ primary point of pride.

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Holtmann is now the head coach at Ohio State, Villanova’s opponent here Sunday in this tournament’s round of 32. And his four years as an assistant and head coach at Butler and in the Big East give him an understanding of and appreciation for the difference between basketball’s status at a football-first university and a school where nothing compares to March Madness. No one would or should argue that Sunday’s matchup matters less to Holtmann or his players than it does to Wright and his. But there’s no denying that if Villanova ends up advancing to San Antonio, the wave of interest in the Ohio State spring football game on April 16 will wash away so much public disappointment in that region of the country.

Listen in on the ambient noise in the PPG Paints Arena media area these last couple of days, and you can hear the voices of Buckeyes-centric reporters on Zoom and conference calls, asking about football recruiting classes and backup left tackles. Jerry Lucas, Bob Knight, Jim Jackson, Greg Oden, Mike Conley: Ohio State has a rich basketball legacy, but everyone knows what sport matters most in Columbus. Just like Holtmann and everyone else knew that Butler belonged in the most recent iteration of the Big East, the one that debuted in 2013-14: 10 schools, all private, none with a major football program.

“They’ve really sold it as a basketball-first league, and I think it’s played to their benefit,” Holtmann said Saturday. “Obviously the addition of UConn has helped. It’s a tremendous basketball league, and I get why you would sell something. They’ve got really strong brands, basketball brands, that have had great success and won national championships and been to Final Fours – a lot of similar-sized institutions.

“I had a tremendous experience in that league, tremendous experience. I loved it. I loved it. Part of it was just the purity of how important basketball was in that league. I love the Big Ten, as well. They’re just different in how they’re set up.”

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Those differences aren’t simply a matter of marketing, either. Villanova is a particular kind of program with a particular kind of culture that is looking for a particular kind of basketball player, and Wright takes those intangible factors into consideration. He’d be a fool not to. Jalen Brunson, born and raised in New Jersey before spending his high school career in suburban Chicago, was the rare prospect west of Reading that Wright pursued. It was that East Coast upbringing and sensibility – plus Brunson’s talent and smarts, of course – that persuaded Wright to recruit him, that chasing him wasn’t a lost cause.

“If you grow up in the Midwest and you’re kind of a Big Ten guy, that’s your idea of college athletics, these huge schools,” Wright said. “That’s the reason we don’t go out there a lot, because if you think that college is Ohio State and you come and visit Villanova, that’s a whole ‘nother world, right? It looks like a high school compared to that.”

Wright tries not to overplay that angle when he’s courting a recruit, though. Does he push the idea that Villanova is a basketball-first school and those Power 5 institutions, with all that football-generated revenue flowing through them, with thousands more students, aren’t? Not really. “He just primarily focused on how tight the guys are and how much of a family environment it is,” senior guard Caleb Daniels said. “He didn’t really push a basketball agenda. It was mainly on us just being together as brothers.”

Still, that’s an easier sell at a place where basketball doesn’t feel like a secondary consideration, where nobody is stealing glances at a later date on the calendar, looking ahead to a scrimmage. Sunday’s game is a clash of those two styles and settings for college basketball: the big school where football is forever king, the smaller school where the greatest time of year is right now. May the best one win.